Jonathan got a sneek peek at the next heartfelt reunion between two old time-travelling friends...

Contains spoilers! No nuts or nut oils though.

Thanks, Sarah Jane Adventures. Thanks a bunch. Thanks to you, I now know roughly what it’s like to have an arm amputated after a freak accident involving a car door. Probably a crap car, too – say a maroon Rover 400. You’ve also helped me realise that it’s pretty likely I’ll outlive my endearingly dim-witted cat, Barclay. Or that one day I’ll have to have a prostate exam. So yeah. Thanks.

But why? Well, amputeeism, maudlin thoughts on my cat and, most worryingly, my prostate, all bring to mind loss and the sense of getting old. And that seems to be because The Sarah Jane Adventures appears to be growing up, too. The opening story of the series – SJA’s fourth with a fifth already partly filmed – dealt with the departure of Sarah Jane’s adopted son Luke (Tommy Knight), who toddled off with K9 to Oxford. It was a pretty deft episode, meshing together spooky thrills (once again giving Julian Bleach a chance to shine in a Whoniverse role, this time as the eponymous Nightmare Man) and genuine sentiment that never felt mawkish or forced. And thanks to that, it all felt pretty grown up to me – though this may have been due in part to a scene in episode one where Sarah Jane appears to give everybody booze. It’s probably a mixture of the two.

This vein of slightly wistful melancholy is also evident in the ominously titled Death of The Doctor, due to be broadcast on the 25th and 26th of October. And as anyone who hasn’t had a limb recently sliced off by a maroon Rover 400 knows, it features the return of Katy Manning as Jo Grant, last seen cavorting with a fungally obsessed Welshman, and a guest appearance from Matt Smith’s eleventh Doctor. We’ve seen companions return before, and with a strong precedent, too – Sarah Jane’s initial reappearance in School Reunion and a charming turn from the Brig in SJA’s very own Enemy of the Bane are strong stories in both series’ history. So what, if anything, could bringing back another companion do?

"The whole thing is also unashamedly nostalgic, and probably has more references, nods and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it snapshots of classic Who than we’ve ever seen before"

Well, it does quite a lot, to be honest, and manages to push the buttons of nostalgia without raking over old ground. This is thanks in no small part to Katy Manning. I was a little sceptical when I first heard the news of her return, but her highly spirited performance really shines. Russell T. Davies’s script seems to give the character a depth that may have been slightly lacking in her original run. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a massive soft spot for the Pertwee and Manning partnership (The Claws of Axos is one of my favourite classic stories, Pigbin Josh and all), but there’s just something about the insightful way RTD captures her that brings out so much, and throws more light – and perhaps some sharp relief – on her appearances in the early 70’s.

Without giving too much away, the two ex-TARDIS travellers are reunited when the Shansheeth, a race of intergalactic undertakers, purport to return The Doctor’s mangled body to Earth. And here’s one of the aspects of the story I disliked – the Shansheeth themselves are pretty shabby and unconvincing, looking a bit like a Dark Crystal puppets that have been through the wash too many times. They’ve got silly, wobbly heads too. But as a concept, they’re great. After all, someone needs to tidy up those corpses littering the Universe, and when their motivation for their dastardly plan is revealed, it’s a nice break from the old ‘I-want-to-blow-up-the-world-‘cause-it’s-there’ type schtick we sometimes see.

The whole thing is also unashamedly nostalgic, and probably has more references, nods and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it snapshots of classic Who than we’ve ever seen before. There’s some beautiful moments, especially one where The Doctor and Jo are finally reconciled, and some misty-eyed revelations about old friends towards the end of the episode. It’s guaranteed to get some of the tear ducts of old and new fans alike going. And this is, I think, one of the story’s strengths – the clever and rewarding way nostalgia for the classic series is being used in the new. Death of The Doctor explores (perhaps exploits?) those feeling of nostalgia deeper than, I think, any previous comparable episode has. Perhaps RTD thinks that, after six successful years and two successful spin-offs, audiences are more comfortable with this kind of fanboy playfulness and blatant geekery. Perhaps he’s just childishly indulging himself – and us – a bit. Either way, the finished product doesn’t feel childish at all.